Collapsible lamp shade



March 25, 1969 PAUL COLLAPSIBLE LAMP SHADE Filed Oct.

FIGJ

INVENTOR.

Anthony Paul FIG.2

ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,435,205 COLLAPSIBLE LAMP SHADE Anthony Paul, 17-51 160th St.,

Whitestone, N.Y. 11357 Filed Oct. 12, 1967, Ser. No. 674,947 Int. Cl. F21v 1/06 US. Cl. 240-108 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A collapsible lamp shade that includes a shade member secured between oppositely disposed channel members. The channel members are releasably held on the shade member by means of elongated resilient members which are adjustably mounted in positions inwardly displaced from said shade member at a distance suflicient to avoid casting shadows thereof on the shade member when the lamp shade is in use.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This invention relates generally to lamp shades, and more particularly, to a collapsible lamp shade.

Description of the prior art Heretofore, collapsible lamp shades have been proposed which included a framing having upper and lower rings to one of which was secured a fabric covering. The fabric was then stretched over the framing and its opposite end secured to the other ring. This procedure proved costly and time consuming, and did not provide means for readily removing and replacing the fabric material.

Subsequent improvements in manufacturing techniques have been proposed which now provide a collapsible lamp shade wherein the covering material can be removed and replaced for the purpose of washing, cleaning, or changing the material. Such a procedure is shown, for example, in US. Patent No. 2,819,386.

The above mentioned patent is primarily directed to a lampshade embodying cover material which is formed into a substantially cylindrical shape body member having upper and lower edge portions. An annular-shaped molding member or ring is mounted on each edge portion, and a tension coil spring is employed for releasably holding said rings on the body member; the ends of said spring engaging oppositely disposed loops in the upper and lower rings respectively. The major difficulty and disadvantages of US. Patent No. 2,819,386 reside in the manner by which the springs cooperate with the loops for holding the rings on the body member. For example, it has been found that the springs engage the ring loops at positions sufficiently close to the body member to result in the springs casting shadows thereof on the body member when the lampshade is in use. This imparts an undesirable appearance to the lamp shade and seriously affects its utility; particularly when the body member is made of a translucent fabric.

The present invention eliminates the above difiiculties and disadvantages in a manner hereinafter described.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The lamp shade of the present invention includes a shade member having channel members mounted on its upper and lower edge portions. A conventional spider member having spider arms is provided for supporting the lamp shade when in use, said spider member being secured to the upper channel member. Separate resilient means comprising rubber bands, extend between and releasab'ly interconnect said upper and lower channel memice bers on the shade member; wherein the opposite ends of said rubber bands interconnect with oppositely disposed hooks provided, respectively, on the spider arms and on the lower channel member. The books enable the rubber bands to be mounted in positions inwardly displaced from said shade member at a distance suflicient to avoid casting shadows thereof on the shade member when the lamp shade is in use.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a novel collapsible lamp shade wherein the component parts thereof are held together by means of elongated resilient members; said members being located and positioned to avoid casting shadows thereof on the lamp shade when in use.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a collapsible lamp shade which may be readily shipped and stored in a knocked-down condition, and assembled by the purchaser with a minimum of instructions.

A further object and feature of this invention is to provide a collapsible lamp shade wherein the individual components are economical to manufacture and easy to assem ble and replace.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from a consideration of the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an exploded view of the lamp shade constructed according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the lamp shade in an assembled condition;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken through line 33 of FIG. 2;

FIGS. 4 and 5 are sectional views similar to FIG. 3, with portions broken away, showing other embodiments of the invention; and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the lamp shade in a disassembled condition in a shipping carton.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawings, and more particularly to FIGS. 1 and 2, numeral 10 represents a lamp shade constructed in accordance with the present invention. Lamp shade 10 comprises a conventional shade member 12, on the upper and lower edge portions of which are mounted channel members 14 and 16, respectively. In the preferred embodiment, shade member 12 is frustoconical in shape and formed of a stiffened fabric material. Itwill be appreciated, however, that the shade member can be made in other shapes, and can the formed of other suitable flexible semirigid materials, such as, paper, parchment, plastic or the like. The principal requirement being that the shade member be sufficiently flexible so that it may be shipped and stored in the knocked-down condition shown in FIG. 6.

The channel members 14 and 16 are preferably annular shaped rings made of steel, plastic, wood or the like, each having a generally U-shaped cross section. Rings 14, 16 are positioned with their respective channels opening toward each other to receive the upper and lower edges of shade member 12 as shown in FIG. 2. An elongated resilient member 18 is provided for interconnecting the upper and lower channel member 14, 16 on shade member 12 in a manner hereinafter described.

To support the assembled lamp shade, there is provided a conventional spider member 20 which comprises a central head portion 22 and a plurality of radially projecting spider arms 24 which connect the head portion 22 to the upper channel member 14, such as by welding,

mechanical coupling or the like. Spider member 20 can preferably be formed of the same material used to make channel members 14 and 16.

In accordance with the present invention, novel mounting means are provided on the spider arms 24 and the lower channel member 16 for mounting the opposite ends of resilient member 18.

Referring to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, the mounting means comprise a first set of hooks 26 aflixed to the spider arms 24, such as by riveting or by applying an adhesive or other bonding agent. There is further provided a second set of hooks 28, similarly affixed to inner portions of the lower channel member 16; said second set of hooks 28 being equal in number to said first set of hooks 26, and being oppositely disposed and vertically offset thereto. For example, referring to FIG. 3, hook 26 is spaced from shade member 12 a greater distance than is hook 28. Accordingly, hook 28 is thus located so that a person can readily operate the light switch and have access to the light bulb for replacement thereof. It will be appreciated that hooks 26 and 28 can be equally spaced from shade member 12 so long as the accessibility of the operating switch and the light bulb is not impaired. In the preferred embodiment, hook 26 is spaced at least two inches from shade member 12.

When the lamp shade is assembled, the channel members 14, 16 are arranged so that books 26 and 28 are in opposing relation. The opposite ends of resilient member 18, which are preferably separate translucent rubber bands, are then employed for releasably interconnecting the upper and lower channels on the shade member; whereby a separate rubber band is provided for interconnecting each one of said second set of hooks 28 with a respective one of said first set of hooks 26. Accordingly, it will not be appreciated that hooks 26 and 28 enable the rubber bands 18 to be mounted in positions inwardly displaced from shade member 12 to locate said rubber bands at distances sufficient to avoid casting shadows thereof on said shade member when the lamp shade is in use.

It will further be appreciated that the arrangement of the mounting means and the spider member 20 can be reversed whereby the spider member 20 can be secured to the lower channel member 16. Furthermore, the inclination of rubber bands 18 can also be reversed by providing for hooks 28 to be spaced from shade member 12 a greater distance than hooks 26.

FIGS. 4 and illustrate other embodiments of the present invention which enable the rubber bands to be adjustable located relative to the shade member. For example, referring to FIG. 4, hooks 26 and 28 are provided with crimped elongated portions 30 and 32 respectively, for locating the opposite ends of rubber band 18 at selected points along said elongated portions. Accordingly, a person can now adjustably locate said rubber bands to avoid casting shadows thereof on the shade member when the lamp shade is in use.

Referring to FIG. 5, hooks 26 have been omitted and a crimped portion 34 has been formed along each spider arm 24. In this embodiment, rubber band 18 is looped around the crimped portion 34 of spider arm 24 and interconnects said crimped portion 34 with the oppositely disposed crimped portion 32 of hook 28.

The present invention also provides for the lamp shade to be shipped and stored in knocked-down position. Referring to FIG. 6, the shade member 12 is illustrated as being temporarily deformed into a relatively flat position. Before inserting the shade member into its shipping carton, spaced tubes 36 and 38 are inserted in opposite end portions of the fiat folded shade member to prevent creasing of said end portions. Channel members 14 and 16 are then placed on the flat portion of the folded shade member, and a package containing the rubber bands inserted into the carton before it is sealed.

Accordingly, it is now apparent that the present invention provides a novel lamp shade wherein the resilient means which releasably hold the channel members on the shade member are mounted in positions inwardly displaced from the shade member at a distance sufficient to avoid casting shadows thereof on the shade member when the lamp shade is in use.

Furthermore, the lamp shade can be conveniently shipped and stored in a knocked-down condition, and the shade member can be easily removed from its assembled state for cleaning purposes.

While specific embodiments of the invention have been shown and described in detail, it will be readily understood and appreciated that various changes or modifications thereof may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A lamp shade comprising:

(a) a shade member having upper and lower edge portions;

(b) an upper channel member for receiving the upper edge of the shade member;

(c) a lower channel member for receiving the lower edge of the shade member;

((1) a spider member having a central head portion and a plurality of radially projecting spider arms connecting said head portion to said upper channel member;

(e) a plurality of elongated resilient members extending between and releasably interconnecting said upper and lower channel members on said shade member;

(f) a first set of mounting hooks including an elongated portion on said spider arms and extending downwardly therefrom;

(g) a second set of hooks including an elongated portion on the inner portion of said lower channel member and being oppositely disposed to said first set of hooks for mounting the opposite ends of said resilient members in positions spaced inwardly from said shade member to locate said resilient members at a distance sufiicient to avoid casting shadows thereof on said lamp shade member when the lamp is in use; and

(h) location adjustment means on the elongated portions of each of said first and second sets of hooks for locating the opposite end portions of the resilient members at selected points along said elongated portions to adjustably locate the resilient members relative to the shade member.

2. The lamp shade as recited in claim 1, wherein the upper and lower channel members are spaced rings each having a generally U-shaped cross section opening toward each other.

3. A lamp shade comprising:

(a) a shade member having upper and lower edge portions;

(b) an upper channel member for receiving the upper edge of the shade member;

(0) a lower channel member for receiving the lower edge of the shade member;

((1) a spider member having a central head portion and a plurality of radially projecting spider arms connecting said head portion to said upper channel member;

(e) a plurality of elongated resilient members extending between and releasably interconnecting said upper and lower channel members on said shade member;

(f) mounting means on said spider arms and said lower channel member respectively for mounting the opposite ends of said resilient members in positions inwardly displaced from said shade member to locate said resilient means at at distance suflicient to avoid casting shadows thereof on said lamp shade member When the lamp is in use; and

(g) location adjustment means on said spider arms and a set of elongated members having a location adjustment portions extending inwardly from said lower channel member and being oppositely disposed to said spider arms to adjustably locate the resilient members relative to the shade member.

4. The lamp shade as recited in claim 1, wherein said said elongated portions.

References Cited UNITED NORTON ANSHER, Primary Examiner.

location adjustment means comprises crimped areas on 10 M. H. HAYES, Assistant Examiner. 

